In the story of a person's life, a word that most would rather not be written is 'inadvertently.’ It is rarely, if ever, followed by ‘turned out great,' or 'saved the day.'
That being said, Ralph Beesal found himself inadvertently working for the military.
Ralph had not enlisted in the military, nor had he been drafted into the military. Ralph had responded to an ad in the classified section of his local newspaper, and not even the good local newspaper.
The ad simply read Wanted and listed a phone number. Ralph felt his resume, which was similarly minimalist, made him an ideal candidate, so he mustered up his professional bearing, rented a thesaurus from his local library, and called the listed phone number. The line connected before the second ring, which startled Ralph (even with the benefit of hindsight, there was no evidence that the job had anything to do with the military, other than the curt nature of the phone conversation, which would have been a stretch. Many professions might feature phone calls of a curt nature. Plumbers, for example).
"Hel-”
"You saw the ad?"
"Y-yes."
"You saw the ad?" the voice asked again. Ralph looked at the thesaurus; closed and just out of reach.
"Yes."
"Be at 5117 Roenoke Ave on Monday. 6 am," the voice said. Ralph looked at the thesaurus again.
"Correct."
"What?" asked the voice, confused at his response.
"Yes."
The voice on the other end was silent for a moment, as if unsure how to proceed. The voice decided no further information needed to be conveyed and the phone line disconnected. Ralph returned the thesaurus to the library, whistling a jaunty tune.
Add comment